Cornell University ( korr-NEHL) is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since its founding, Cornell University has been a co-educational and nonsectarian institution. As of fall 2024, the student body included 16,128 undergraduate and 10,665 postgraduate students from all 50 U.S. states and 130 countries.
The university is organized into eight undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions on its main Ithaca campus. Each college and academic division has near autonomy in defining its respective admission standards and academic curriculum. In addition to its primary campus in Ithaca, Cornell University administers three satellite campuses, including two in New York City, the medical school and Cornell Tech, and a branch of the medical school in Al Rayyan in Education City, Qatar.
Cornell is one of three private land-grant universities in the United States. Among the university's eight undergraduate colleges, three are state-supported statutory or contract colleges partly financed through the State University of New York – the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, and the Industrial and Labor Relations School – as is one of the graduate divisions, the Veterinary Medicine College. The main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca spans 745 acres (301 ha).
As of October 2024, 64 Nobel laureates, 4 Turing Award winners, and 1 Fields Medalist have been affiliated with Cornell University. The institution counts more than 250,000 living alumni, which include 34 Marshall Scholars, 33 Rhodes Scholars, 29 Truman Scholars, 63 Olympic medalists, 10 current Fortune 500 CEOs, and 35 billionaires.
Cornell University was founded on April 27, 1865, by Ezra Cornell, an entrepreneur and New York State senator, and Andrew Dickson White, an educator and fellow state senator. The university was established as New York's land-grant institution following authorization by the New York State Legislature. Ezra Cornell provided his farm in Ithaca, New York, as the initial campus site and contributed $500,000 as an initial endowment (equivalent to $13,074,000 in 2025). White agreed to serve as the university's first president.
White oversaw the university's early development, including construction of its first two buildings, and traveled to recruit students and faculty. The university was formally inaugurated on October 7, 1868, with 412 male students enrolling the following day.
Cornell developed as a technologically innovative institution, incorporating academic research into campus infrastructure and outreach. In 1883, it became one of the first electrified universities, employing a water-powered dynamo to light parts of the campus. Since 1894, the university has incorporated state-funded colleges that fulfill statutory requirements, and it administers research and extension programs jointly funded by New York State and the U.S. federal government. In 1872, Cornell became one of the first U.S. universities to allow alumni-elected trustees on its board.During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cornell was home to literary societies that promoted writing, reading, and oratory. The U.S. Bureau of Education classified several of these societies as following the traditions of literary organizations at Eastern universities.
In 1967, Cornell experienced a fire in the Residential Club dormitory that killed eight students and one professor. In the late 1960s, Cornell was among the Ivy League universities that experienced heightened student activism related to cultural issues, civil rights, and opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1969, armed anti–Vietnam War protesters occupied Willard Straight Hall, an incident that led to a restructuring of university governance and forced the resignation of then-president James Alfred Perkins.
Cornell University and its academic programs have routinely ranked among the best in the world. In 1995, the National Research Council ranked Cornell's Ph.D. programs sixth in the nation. It also ranked the academic quality of 18 individual Cornell Ph.D. programs among the top ten nationwide, including astrophysics (ninth), chemistry (sixth), civil engineering (sixth), comparative literature (sixth), computer science (fifth), ecology (fourth), electrical engineering (seventh), English (seventh), French (eighth), geosciences (tenth), German (third), linguistics (ninth), materials science (third), mechanical engineering (seventh), philosophy (ninth), physics (sixth), Spanish (eighth), and statistics/biostatistics (fourth). The council ranked Cornell's College of Arts and Humanities faculty fifth in the nation, its mathematics and physical sciences faculty sixth, and its College of Engineering fifth.
In 2000, Cornell began expanding its international programs. In 2004, the university opened Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in Education City in Al Rayyan, Qatar. In 2020, Cornell admitted that it had failed to disclose close to $1.9 billion dollars in Qatari funding, according to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. In 2026 it was reported that Cornell received $2.3 billion from Qatar, out of a total of $3 billion from foreign nations.
The university also developed partnerships with academic institutions in India, the China, and Singapore.
In August 2002, a graduate student group, At What Cost?, formed at Cornell to oppose a graduate student unionization drive run by CASE/UAW, an affiliate of the United Auto Workers. The vote to unionize, held in October 2002, was rejected; At What Cost? was considered instrumental in the unusually large 90% turnout and the two-to-one defeat of the proposal, the first time a U.S. graduate school vote on unionization was defeated.
In March 2004, Cornell and Stanford University laid the cornerstone for the building and operation of the "Bridging the Rift Center," located on the border between Israel and Jordan, to be used for education. In 2005, Jeffrey S. Lehman, a former president of Cornell, described the university and its high international profile as a "transnational university".
In November 2025, Cornell agreed to pay $30 million to the federal government and invest $30 million in agricultural research in order to restore $250 million in funding and settle investigations into campus antisemitism and DEI practices.
Cornell University's main campus is located in Ithaca, New York, on East Hill, offering views of the city and Cayuga Lake. The campus has expanded to approximately 745 acres (301 ha) since its founding, now including multiple academic buildings, laboratories, administrative facilities, athletic centers, auditoriums, museums, and residential areas. In 2011, Travel + Leisure recognized Cornell's campus in Ithaca as one of the most beautiful in the United States, praising its unique blend of architectural styles, historic landmarks, and picturesque surroundings.The Ithaca campus is characterized by an irregular layout and a mix of architectural styles that developed over time through successive master plans. More ornate buildings generally predate World War II, while later construction reflects modernist and contemporary styles.
Several Cornell University buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Andrew Dickson White House, Bailey Hall, Caldwell Hall, the Computing and Communications Center, Morrill Hall, Rice Hall, Fernow Hall, Wing Hall, Llenroc, and Deke House. Morrill Hall has also been designated a National Historic Landmark. Three other listed historic buildings, the original Roberts Hall, East Roberts Hall, and Stone Hall, were demolished in the 1980s to make way for new campus buildings and development.
Central, North, and West campuses
The majority of Cornell University's academic and administrative facilities are located on its main campus in Ithaca. Architectural styles range from ornate Collegiate Gothic, Victorian, and Neoclassical buildings to more spare international and modernist structures. Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, proposed a "grand terrace" overlooking Cayuga Lake in one of the earliest plans for the development of the campus.